Letters for Oct. 13, 2022

Support Trish Carter-Goodheart

Trish Carter-Goodheart is a breath of fresh air, bringing reason, passion and common sense into the Idaho political arena. She’s not a politician hungry for power or someone with an agenda who thinks she has all the answers. She’s a community fundraiser and work-at-home mom of two young children who has stepped up to run for District 6 Representative, Seat A, because she cares deeply about Idaho’s rural communities.

A member of the Nez Perce Tribe, Trish has lived in Lapwai all her life. She has served on the National Indian Child Welfare Association board since 2008, starting as a youth board member and staying after being asked to remain on the board. She also served on the public policy committee, focusing on legislative and policy decisions as well as fundraising and program development. Trish is ready to use her skills to expand her community advocacy work by serving as a legislator who will listen to her constituents and work to address the unique needs and problems that all rural Idaho communities face. Her top priorities are affordable and accessible early childhood education, improving rural communities’ abilities to access critical resources like broadband, rebuilding deteriorating infrastructure, particularly roads, bridges and school facilities.

Check out her website at trishforidaho.com to find more information about her as well as lots of useful resources.

Please join me in donating to her campaign and voting for Trish on Nov. 8.

Kathy Dawes

Moscow

Sen. Murray

Patty Murray has represented Washington in the U.S. Senate for 30 years. She began as a soccer mom liberal and has become a lap dog progressive. She has been a solid “yes” vote for Democratic legislation, but has done little for the state. I wonder what she really thinks about her service when she has contributed to much of our problems. How does she feel about our disastrously botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, the millions of illegal immigrants pouring across our open southern border, rampant crime and runaway inflation? She signed on to President Biden’s war on the oil industry and has embraced the insane green agenda, even advocating dam removal.

Her votes have contributed to this mess. She has been in the background in almost every picture of Democratic leadership. She does not recognize her responsibility and says, “we are working on it.” Not recognizing that abortion is no longer a federal issue, she continues to fear monger it. Her attacks on Republican’ s threats to Social Security have been repudiated. Real issues go unexamined.

We in this state are hurting. It is time to try something new. Let’s elect someone who will tackle these problems and represent us and our concerns. Elect Tiffany Smiley.

Jeff Reyburn

Spokane

Lack of trust

I was totally disgusted with the article written by Washington Post journalist Glenn Kessler (“The false claim Senate GOP plans to end Social Security and Medicare,” Sept. 29). Kessler states that Patty Murray is making false claims about her opponent, Tiffany Smiley, the same Tiffany Smiley who has a picture showing her smiling next to Donald Trump, the ultimate liar. Kessler’s “proof” reminds me of the story of the emperor who wears no clothes. In this case, the emperor is the Republican Party (which looks like the former president) and Kessler is trying to hold up the GOP’s imaginary robe to keep it from falling in the (very real) mud.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Smiley is a member of the Republican Party or “the party of Trump.” Trump has repeatedly stated that he intends to defund both Social Security and Medicare if he is reelected. Various Republican senators (Ron Johnson and Rick Scott, among others) have openly stated that they would like to “sunset” both great programs, or at the very least, consider whether to reauthorize them. The last time I looked up the definition of sunset, it means to terminate and guess what would happen to Social Security and Medicare if there is a Republican (party of Trump) majority in the Senate? How is it that Republicans in Congress never talk about “sunsetting” or “reauthorizing” their retirement? So … Sorry Glenn, sorry Tiffany, sorry GOP, but I really don’t trust you.

Rosemarie Schmidt

Mead

Ms. Wright on abortion history

Ms. Wright of Potlatch (“History of abortion,” Oct. 5) says that abortion was legal in biblical times and America’s founding. So, I guess she thinks that is a good reason to declare it fine now. Slavery anyone? Torture in prisons? Death penalty for blasphemy or adultery? Talk about going backward. I suggest the editors consider a new feature listing the number of letters they get about something that don’t make it into print. It would help people gauge the state of deductive reasoning around here.

Bill Sweigert

Spokane

Regarding the history of abortion

In her letter “History of abortion” (Oct. 5), Khaliela Wright referenced Numbers 5:11-31 in the Bible. She claims, “one of the priest’s jobs was to perform abortions” and “that women could be forced to have abortions against their will if their husbands or parents demanded it.”

After reading this Scripture, I could see nothing regarding abortion, much less it being the priest’s job, or husbands or parents demanding it. A little research on this provided the following insights. Adultery was a serious sin in their culture. This text describes what could be done when a husband suspects his wife of infidelity but has no witnesses to prove it. The matter would be taken before the priest. The priest would mix dust from the floor of the tabernacle with holy water and give it to the woman to drink. If she remained well, she was innocent and free to go. If she were guilty, they believed God would be the judge and cause her to become sick. It was a matter of letting God demonstrate guilt or innocence. That’s it.

Although this procedure seems very odd to us, that was the practice in their culture. The vast majority of the resources I read support this interpretation. Some alternative translations imply the text was referring to a miscarriage, but such interpretations are a distinct minority.

Kevin Wright

Spokane Valley

9th Legislative District

As a newly assigned resident in Washington’s 9th Legislative District, I’ve been watching The Spokesman and other local newspapers for information on the upcoming election in the 9th District. I’ve seen nothing.

Most of my neighbors are unaware that those of us formerly 4th District voters living south of Sprague Avenue in the Liberty Lake community are now in the 9th State Legislative District. How about a story in the Spokesman about the redraw of the legislative districts, to include the “interesting” extension of the 9th District into the Liberty Lake area and clear to the freeway and river, north and east of the Liberty Lake city? I am curious why this happened. I don’t think us “folks around the lake” were consulted, or hardly even notified. Hard to see our connection to Pullman and Ritzville versus the Spokane Valley.

Tom Brattebo

Liberty Lake

Peanuts vs. Pogo

In a recent S-R paper, I learned “County to sue WSDOT over camp’s ‘nuisance’ conditions” (Oct. 5) that County Commissioners French, Kerns and Kuney have instructed County Prosecutor Haskell to join them on the growing list of elected officials in counterproductive engagement with homelessness.

We have Mayor Woodward telling us that the homeless are too comfortable to reach for their own bootstraps and Sheriff Knezovich ready to load homeless people up in buses to be sent “away” (wherever “away” might be). And now the County Commission and prosecutor will be spending energy and money in trying to find the WSDOT at fault. All of these ideas just make the problem worse.

Have all these folks been taking seriously the advice of Charles Schulz’ Peanuts character Linus, that no problem is so big and complicated that it cannot be run away from? I would refer them to Walt Kelly’s Pogo instead: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

William Siems

Spokane

Support for Tom Arkoosh

Independents, Republicans and Democrats alike can be thankful that Tom Arkoosh is running to be Idaho’s next attorney general. He has years of experience as a lawyer and a commitment to upholding the rule of law in a non-partisan manner.

In contrast, his opponent Raul Labrador is committed to highly partisan politics and to his own political advancement. Labrador will involve us in lawsuits that will cost us a fortune. More dangerously, as a friend of the Idaho (so called) Freedom Foundation, Labrador supports government intervention in our hospitals and libraries, our schoolrooms and our bedrooms.

Arkoosh is a conservative. He believes that “the true conservative Idaho bent, whatever the party, protects individualism and the absence of government interference.”

Idahoans, please vote for Tom Arkoosh to be our next attorney general.

Walter Hesford

Moscow

Ukraine and Russia

How can we end this war in Ukraine? There’s no one answer and not many of them of good. Either Putin is arrested or killed, or World War III is started. With the first one, the Russian people would likely put in a more democratic government with fair voting practice. With the other, the entire world gets involved, with the U.S. and NATO on one side and Russia and its allies on the other, which would likely end up in the destruction and damage of a lot of European land and a possible attack on U.S. territory.

The first option obviously seems like the best, but who’s to say that someone won’t install another autocratic dictatorship and nothing changes? Those are just my two bits on this situation, however.

Tug Cypher

Spokane

Taking the Fifth

“Taking the Fifth” is a term when witnesses decline to answer questions where the answers might incriminate them. Team Trump witnesses before the Jan. 6 Committee have taken the Fifth more than 1,000 times, not counting Trump’s 500 times. According to candidate Trump, “if you’re innocent, why take the Fifth?” Well, because you’re not. But this isn’t about that.

I’m talking about taking back Washington’s 5th Congressional District from Cathy McMorris Rodgers who in 2016 chose to serve one man instead of the district by joining Trump’s transition team. She’s stood loyally by her man since, even after having to escape the insurrectionist mob on Jan. 6. And while encouraging Trump to “condemn and put an end to this madness,” she fails to condemn him for continuing to amplify the lie the election was stolen. Choosing instead to stay silently in his graces rather then become the focus of his ire and lose out of state PAC money funding her election campaign.

The 5th deserves better. Someone new who will listen and be loyal to all constituents of the district, instead of one man and obliged to out of state donors. Someone who will vote with an open mind on regional and national issues instead of blindly following directions provided in talking points handed down from leadership in D.C. It’s time for a change and Natasha Hill represents that change with fresh ideas and a willingness to listen to constituents.

Sterling Leibenguth

Spokane